"Those who took a shine to Madeleine Peyroux when she emerged a decade ago, and then discovered that, live, she struggled to sing in tune, might care to lend their ears to Parissa Bouas. Like Peyroux, she immediately engages by being blessed with a voice that has timbral overlaps with Billie Holiday’s. More significantly she shines the charm off that voice on some exceptional self-penned songs. Nothing’s Gonna Last is an enchantingly ruminative end-of-the-affair ballad, for instance, and most others share this bittersweet quality. Bouas will be familiar to some readers as one half of the Hottentots. This time her key collaborator is the Dutch multi instrumentalist Michiel Hollanders, who delights in decorating the breezy, jazz-inflected songs with the ethereal sounds of musical saw. Her singing glides on a slightly detached trajectory that doesn’t weigh down the soothingly sad lyrics."

Pre release reviews by fans - “The Full Force of the Wind”

“My day began with gray clouds but it ended with the full force of the wind. Words cannot describe how much I Love your CD. I played every song twice sometimes three times. Then played the entire CD over and over. The only disappointment is there's only six songs but surely they must be six of the most beautiful songs ever written. This is the music of my life at the moment. I haven't been able to listen to music for some months now but your lyrics and voice are singing me better. XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxIT'S BRILLIANT!!”

Andrew Warboys

"We are all loving your new CD. Beautiful sensual and fun. X” Milly

“Parissa dear! Congratulations! I received my cds yesterday and have listened a few times. Well done, darling! Great songs, awesome concept and performance, amazing production! “ Zulya

About the Album

It’s not hard to see why multi award winning, Greek Australian chanteuse, PARISSA BOUAS, has won a legion of fans and respect for her performances, with Australia’s definitive coffee house couple, The Hottentots. PARISSA is now detouring, following the muse down a fabulously kitsch, Vintage jazz , alt pop path.

Musically, this EP could be the lovechild of Billie Holiday and Tom Waits meeting in a Parisian nightclub, where Gypsies play songs of love and loss, with an occasional distinctly South American twist.

‘Sad Eyes’, a sultry, Gypsy jazz tune, reached the ISC semi finals and won the coveted SONG OF THE YEAR and BEST JAZZ SONG categories at the recent Dolphin Music Awards.

“The Full Force of the Wind”, is Parissa's first collaboration with Dutch multi instrumentalist, instrument builder and producer Michiel Hollanders. Her musical support team is unconventional and impressive: Dutch virtuoso bandoneonist Marc Constandse‘s musical presence is nuanced, passionate and rhythmic. Australia’s pre eminent Brazilian specialist, Doug De Vries, seduces us with 10 string guitar, rebolo and cavaquinho on the Latin influenced, title track ‘The Full Force of the Wind’ and on ‘Honey and Candlelight’. But it is Michiel Hollanders and Parissa’s combined magic that brings all the elements together into a very unique sounding album.

Recorded in Australia and Holland and mastered at LOUD! in Amsterdam, the exotic timbres of velofoon, saw, fietsband bass, claude viol and bandoneon mesh perfectly with Parissa’s sublime, moody melodies, and eclectic vocal stylings , which on this album, lend more to the jazzy sounds of Melody Gardot and Madeleine Peyroux. Supported by these rich and quirky arrangements she draws upon elements of vintage jazz, latin, pop and Manouche, with expressive vocals that are both sensitive and seductive.